I watched a show the other weekend about venom. Which was mostly about snakes, as you may imagine. There were some other venomous critters such as lizards, scorpions, spiders and... ah... snails. But the most extraordinary thing in the show was... apparently, ground squirrels, in Texas especially, are literally evolving a tolerance to rattlesnake venom. A full-grown human being would sicken rapidly and even die without anti-venom, a human child certainly would, but a little teeny squirrel can take more than one hit from a rattlesnake... and fail to die. They get real sick and feel pretty bad, but they don't die. Because squirrels, or more specifically their pups, are the most common prey of rattlesnakes. And over the years (hundreds, I'm guessing), squirrels have developed a level of immunity to rattlesnake venom. Wow. Tiny squirrel, bit fat rattler. Squirrel takes two hits... doesn't die. Wow.

And that kind of segues into one of the other disturbing things I learned on this venom show is that, you know, some venomous species are much more venomous than it even takes to kill something far larger than they can eat. Say... a human or... an elephant. The reason for this is a combination of factors, including, prey animals building tolerance or defense against venom and stronger venom results in an increase in speed of death. Some predators must kill their prey instantly or lose their meal, hence, lack of survival. So their venom is super, mega, extra powerful.

Look out for... cone snails. Apparently some species of cone snails are so wildly venomous that they're regulated by the government because the venom could be used as a powerful biological weapon. The good news is, our lovely molecular biologists are studying these venoms to come up with beneficial pharmaceuticals, such as painkillers that don't come with addiction, or rot your stomach or your liver. Wouldn't that be nice?